Cultural fit isn’t just about values
Part of cultural fit refers to the values of an organization and how they suit the employee. While this can make a difference, have you noticed how similar many companies’ stated values seem to be?
It’s not hard to find “integrity”, “customer focus”, or “leadership” amongst corporate values. But the many organizations stating these as their own values are very different. They must be, because a whole different set of people lead and work in each company.
Often I feel that cultural fit is targeted to these high-level goals and aspirations of an organization. If an employee fits in well with these, then it is assumed that there’s a fighting chance for that person to do well. When you are actually hiring though, you need to go far deeper and more specific than this if you want to find the right fit.